Explanation: I chose to do this topic because it seems to be a common error among interpreters, especially inexperienced ones. Being a young interpreter, I struggle with eliminating fillers, and usually when one person struggles with it, there are typically more that struggle with it as well. Another reason for choosing to do this topic is because it seems that new interpreters do a lot more sign interpreting than voice interpreting, which means that they don’t get enough practice doing voice interpretations, which leads to an inability to easily fix voicing errors, such as fillers.

Goal: Eliminate unnecessary filler words when voice interpreting.

You Will Need:

• Computer with:
• - MS PowerPoint 2003 or later
• - MS Word Processor
• Access to YouTube on the Internet
• Audio recorder (can use anything that will at least record the audio)
• Email

Activities for Completing the Workshop:

PowerPoint: Click on this link and read through a short PowerPoint that tells the basics about filler words. 5 minutes

Self-reflection: Record yourself talking about your day. You don’t necessarily need to see yourself. You just need to be able to hear yourself in the recording. Talk about everything that has happened and be very specific! Start with waking up. Did a song pop into your head? Did you think about the dreams you had? Did you push the snooze button and go back to sleep? Did you sneeze? Try to think of every nitty-gritty little detail from your day. Please don’t think about it until you are recording! After recording yourself for 3 minutes, go back and listen to your voice recording and make a tally mark for each filler word you use, such as “uh,” “um,” “like,” etc. 10 mintues

- What’s the point?

¨ To bring to your attention how many fillers you use in your every day vocabulary. An effective way to get rid of a bad habit is by first realizing that you have the habit.

Voice Interpretation: Click here to watch a video of me signing a 3 minute story. Record yourself voice interpreting my story. Please voice record yourself the first time you watch my video. After finishing your interpretation, go back and listen to it. - For your assessment, transcribe your interpretation and email it to me at nellieblad@gmail.com. In your email be sure to include the total amount of tally marks from the self-reflection activity. You can type it up in Word Processor and put it as an attachment in your email, or just type it as part of the body of your email. Whichever works best for you. 15 minutes

- What’s the point?

¨ To help make you aware of how many fillers you use in an actual interpretation.